Back from Dakar

It seems that one of the Northwest's own was a competitor in the 2006 Paris-Dakar Rally. Jonah Street of Ellensburg, Washington finished 17th in this year's rally. The Kittitas County Daily Record has a nice little story about this local rider, who did extremely well in a amazingly gureling race.

Street returns home, reflects on experience
Ellensburg motorcycle rider held his own against the world's best

By PATRICK CARLSON
"A challenge for those who go. A dream for those who stay behind.â"

That motto, written on the motorcycles, cars and trucks of the Dakar Rally since its creation in 1978, has always summed up the experience of the men and women who accepted its challenge.

For Jonah Street, the challenge is over, and the dream is now reality.
Street's 2006 Dakar Rally ended Jan. 15 on the beaches of Dakar, Senegal, after 5,619 miles on his motorcycle through the deserts, forests and mountains of west Africa. For Street, one of the United States' most experienced desert motorcycle racers, the Dakar Rally was beyond anything he had experienced before. For starters, the race was broadcast in over 160 countries around the world.

Old Bike Week: Day 5 [Honda v65 Sabre]

Yeah, so I'm partial. So what.

I particularly like how nicely this 85 Honda v65 Sabre has been maintained. Whoever the owner is, he's been taking good care of it. Mine isn't nearly so nice, as its previous owner rode the dickens out of it on a daily basis until he just had to go buy a ZRX.



Some of the modifications on this Sabre are rather like mine. The PO of my bike simply mounted some highway pegs directly to the frame downtubes instead of a 'crashbar', but the effect is the same.

My bike has a custom fairing with a larger round headlight in it, but the screen height is the same.

Judging by the photo, he's also replaced the rather weedy stock horn. I had a Stebel horn put on mine, getting me a very authoritative "big vehicle sound" that wakes the sleepy cagers right up.

All in all, a very nice-looking example of a very under-appreciated model.

House Bill 1466 Passes State House

Well, I call this progress. We finally got a little bit of commonsense legislation pushed through to benefit motorcyclists.

Who among us hasn't come up on one of those intersections that has a megnetic loop sensor in the left turn lane? I unfortunately have to make a lot of left-hand turns on my commute. Guess what? My motorcycle's engine is made primarily of aluminum, and the Public Works boys tune those magnetic sensor loops to detect those huge work trucks they drive around.

This bill was supposed to pass last year, but like all things that are logical in Washington State, it got pushed out to the 2nd "short" part of the state's bi-ennial legislative session.

Now if they'd only wise up about lane-splitting.

Motorcycles at traffic signals: By a vote of 92-2 on Jan. 18, the House approved HB 1466, which would allow motorcycles to turn left after one cycle at a signalized intersection equipped with a vehicle detection device that fails to register the presence of the motorcycle. The bill is under consideration in the Senate.

If you happen to live up north of Seattle in Snohomish County, the Herald Newspaper has the partial list of area State House legislators who voted for the bill.

Old Bike Week: Day 4 [Honda CBX]

I know this one isn't as old as the others, but I have something of a sweet spot for this bike. The Honda CBX really strikes me as one of the major leaps towards the ideal touring standard. Everybody who's read this blog for very long knows that I ride a Honda Sabre 1100, which is another fine touring standard.

Just as I enjoy reading old magazine articles about the Sabres, I seem to also derive an substantial amount of entertainment from reading about these beautiful old CBXs.



A few photos of another fine-looking CBX.

Old Bike Week: Day 3 [Vincent]

A few years ago back when I was still an apartment-dweller, one of my neighbors was an elderly woman who always gave me a very hard look when I rode by on my 82 CX500. Never knew why, and didn't bother to find out. Except one day she was walking in front of the carport where my bike went, and she mentioned her son. Apparently many moons ago, her son was the sole importer of the Vincent motorcycles onto American shores.

She went on to talk about him some more, but those details have been lost to my memory sadly.

So, I leave you with this beauty. A 1947 Vincent HRD.

Old Bike Week: Day 2 [Ducati 750]

Another very pretty bike, this vintage Ducati.

I can definitely see the sylistic cues that Ducati is using on the new Sport Classics. It's quite nice, and I don't understand why so many people are up in arms about it.

Old Bike Week: Day 1 [Suzuki Hustler]

This one is really neat. I know I'd never ride one, but I have a soft spot for those old scramblers.

A little more Justice

I'm rather shocked by this development. There's finally been an order issued for a real investigation of the death of Christopher Dodge last June.

For anyone who lives in around Seattle, it's well-known that the King County Sheriff's Department is prone to scandal and controversy. There's been many articles recently written about the agency's inability to clean their department of bad cops, and as a citizen of King County, I certainly don't trust their own committees and internal affairs staff to return a just decision.

The following from the Federal Way Mirror, written by Mike Halliday.

The Mirror
King County Executive Ron Sims has authorized an inquest into the death of a Federal Way man who was riding a motorcycle when he was hit and killed last June by a Sheriff Department patrol car.
Mark Larson, King County’s chief criminal deputy prosecuting attorney, recommended Sims call for the public inquest. Sims received the recommendation Monday and it was approved the following day, said Sandeep Kaushik, a spokesman for him.
King County District Court will set a date for the inquest.
Inquests can only be authorized by the county executive and are typically called when a citizen dies as the result of the actions of a law enforcement officer.
Christopher Dodge, 27, died June 12, two days after he was struck by the patrol car. The county medical examiner ruled he succumbed to blunt force injuries suffered in the accident.

Sounds a little odd to me. I don't have much faith in that "excessive speed" verdict returned by the State Patrol, but I would certainly want an independent review of the incident. The Good Lord knows that if you are I were in the driver's seat of a car that struck and killed the motorcyclist, we'd have at least spent a night or two in jail while they pieced it together. From the sounds of the article, the officer wasn't even placed on administrative leave while it was under investigation.

Something rotten in the state of Seattle. But anybody who lives here has known that for years anyway.

Plea Bargain. Justice Served? Maybe.

I was perusing through Google looking for more motorcycle news with which to rake the muck, and found the following over at KPVI 6's website.

The driver charged with causing a deadly crash goes before a judge to admit he is guilty. Cade Bichel of Idaho Falls was charged with vehicular manslaughter for failing to yield at a stop sign. He faced up to a year in prison for his negligence. Last August, he caused a three-vehicle crash that involved a motorcycle and a truck carrying oxygen canisters. Motorcycle rider Scott Garner died at the scene.

In a plea deal, Judge Jerry Meyers placed Bichel on two years supervised probation and gave him a hefty fine. Judge Meyers said if Bichel commits any new crime while on probation - especially a traffic violation - he will put him in jail. Bichel said he was sorry for what he did, knowing he caused a crash that took away a husband and father.

I'm not sure justice was served here. Although I'm pleased to see some contrition on the part of the driver who murdered the motorcyclist, I'm not sure that plea bargain ought to be accepted by the judge. While far too many of these incidents are completely un-prosecuted, those that do ought to be prosecuted to the hilt.

In this case, I can't imagine that this guy didn't know that he was risking the lives of everyone else and himself when he ran a stop sign. I mean, really folks. You pull up to the stop sign. You look around to make sure there's no traffic with right of way, and then you cross the intersection. How tough is that? Or for that matter, how bloody long does it take to do this at a 4-way stop? A few seconds. That's it. Killing and maiming other motorists to save a few seconds. Completely disgusting, and completely reprehensible.

Cage Review? The Horror!

After my wife drove our 2002 Chevy Cavalier into the side of a dumptruck a couple weeks ago, we needed to rent a car (covered under the policy) until we could find a new one.

My wife managed to rent a squeaky-new Buick Lucerne from Enterprise. The woman doesn't know jack about cars, so it always amazes me that she ends up renting these really expensive, luxury models when all she really wants and indeed asks for is another Chevy Cavalier. Well, I got an opportunity to drive the thing for a day or two while we were shopping for another cage.

Regarding the Buick, I have to say that I'm non-plussed. Yes, I know it's a Buick luxury-performance car, but there's absolutely no road feel. The steering is very sharp, and there's a high Center of Gravity. The seating is so fluffy that it's like a stock bike seat and you sink right into it. The car is farkled out to the nines, with every gadget you ever thought of including rear-facing sonar for backing the huge whale of a car.

Contrast that with the used 2003 Subaru Legacy L sedan we bought. The car had 37k miles on it when we bought it a few weeks ago. It's already got 38k+ now and it's an absolute joy to drive. The steering's quite precise and the AWD (even with the 90/10 bias) gives the car excellent handling qualities. The 2.5L H4 boxer engine is extremely revvy, even if it's got squat for torque because of the high gearing. I must say though, the Subarus put out a really good car. This is probably the first used car that I've had any faith in within the last 15 years, let alone be excited about driving.

Wet AND Cold

Oh yes. Today was most definitely wet AND cold. We didn't break any records since for the first time in 4 weeks, there was no rain, it's still quite wet out there and the rain has resumed. (Record was 33 straight days, we missed it by 5)

Since today is MLK Day, I was forced to ride the bike all the way in. I was told that the commuter buses weren't running(erroneous info, as I found out) and that the Sounder train wasn't running either(true). Without those two options to get to work, I'm left with navigating my Honda through the monsoon that is winter riding in Seattle.

Yes, it was wet AND cold. It was also very soggy. All the wonderful aspects of riding in the rain were present. Raindrops in the inside of the screen. Cold goretex sticking to your jacket liner. Icky wet leather gloves from all the roadspray being driven into the fabric. And to add insult to injury, I wasn't going anyplace fun, I was going to work. On a holiday. Yippeee.

There is one rather interesting note to my commute this morning. Since it's a holiday I was forced to park at one of the expensive self-park lots. Parked in the motorcycle zone was a creature I'd never seen up close before. Parked there, was a blue Diamo Velox 150 "enclosed" scooter. This thing even had a front wiper blade to go with the vertical shell.



Certainly not my cup of tea, but it obviously is someone's bike.

Drunk Television Executives Kills British Biker

Well, I though we had problems here in the States with drivers getting off a vehicular murder rap scot-free. Apparently in Britain, a TV executive at a Yield sign pulled up to and slightly past a Yield sign at a 4-way intersection, and then pulled partway out striking the oncoming motorcyclist who was 4th of a group of 6.

The following is from icWales news service, and it gets MUCH better:

Geraint Walters, prosecuting, told the jury: “There is no doubt in this case that the manner of the driving caused the death of Mr Beynon.

“The question is, was the driving dangerous.”

Okay, I can understand holding the driver to that standard, if that's how the law is written. What gets me is the following, and why "dangerous driving is even in doubt".

Mr Walters said all the bikers would be giving evidence during the trial and some would say how Evans pulled out abruptly on to the road.

At least one made a point of swerving to go around him before the fatal collision which claimed Mr Beynon’s life, the prosecution said.

Mr Walters said that on the day of the collision Evans had driven to the area to attend a Christening in Llandeilo.

When he failed to arrive on time he went to a pub instead where he had a pint of Guinness.

He was then called to the Christening by a friend where he ate and allegedly drank champagne, white wine and red wine before leaving in his car with the friend and his son.

They headed to another pub, which proved to be closed, and continued on for several minutes to what was to be the scene of the collision.

Mr Walters told the jury that after the accident, when the police arrived on the scene, Evans’s car was still there but he and his passengers had gone.

I'm thinking this guy ought to be sitting in prison instead of sitting in his swank Mercedes and his nice corner office at the helm of a multi-billion dollar (or Brit opunds, for that matter) telecommunications enterprise.

I know that in New York they can't prosecute for DUI if the driver goes elsewhere, but why isn't he being prosecuted for abondoning the scene of a traffic fatality? Somehow I doubt that in Britain, the lives of motorcyclists can really be THIS cheap.

{Edit September 2008: He was sentenced in February 2006 (fast turn-around!) for 3 years in prison. He's be getting out in February 2009 or so.}

Newsie Faux Pas

Not surprised, of course, another journalistic faux pas. But it is a small window into the mind of the non-motorcycling public, and what they really think about us.

This quote from Florence, SC's Morning News Online:

Hit-and-runs can be serious crimes in which the victims might be difficult to catch, but officials say responsible drivers are helping them find the culprits more often.

I think that editor has a little explaining to do, as to what he really means there. Around here, most of the time the victims of hit & run collisions are left bleeding on the roadway.

But now on to the meat of the story.

"If there's any injuries ... it turns into a felony, and the person has really got some problems then,â" Heidler said.

Hit-and-run penalties have three tiers in South Carolina:

* In accidents with no great injury, a hit-and-run is a misdemeanor that could carry a fine from $100 to $5,000 and 30 days to one year in prison.
* In cases of serious injury, the offense is a felony that could carry a fine of $5,000 to $10,000 and 30 days to 10 years in prison. þ In fatal hit-and-runs, the offense becomes a felony punishable by one to 25 years in prison and a fine of $10,000 to $25,000.

One Florence hit-and-run in August killed a motorcyle driver on South Irby Street near Con-yers Avenue.

The driver of a Cadillac made a left-hand turn in front of the motorcycle, which was traveling south on Irby Street. The motorcycle's driver, 44-year-old Robert Rotan of Florence, was thrown from his bike and onto the road. He died hours later at a local hospital, Florence County Coroner M.G. "Bubba" Matthews said.

The Cadillac's driver abandoned the vehicle at a nearby apartment complex, according to police reports. John Henry Caldwell, 25, of Florence was arrested the following morning after reporting to work at Bojangles™ on South Irby Street. He was charged with leaving the scene with personal injury, driving without insurance, having no vehicle license and driving under suspension.

At least South Carolina has their priorities straight for drivers. As I recall it took many years of effort to even get a minimum sentencing requirement past the desk of Washington State's then-governer Gary Locke, who was adamantly and irrationally anti-motorcyclist, to the point of persecution and refusal to evenly enforce motor vehicle laws.

Modern Economics?

Mind you, I'm not terribly fond of the way Washington State is lavishing nearly all of the new gas tax funds on Comrade Gregoire's flunkies in Seattle, but this induhvidual is taking the concept of a tax revolution to its slavish dysfunctional end.

Excerpted from the Columbian.

Voters were ignored

I read Tim Eyman's Dec. 26 opinion column, "State breaks its $30 car tab promise," and I applaud him for the statements he made.

I recently received my renewal tabs for my 16-year-old motorcycle, only to find they went to $47. I am upset, and totally appalled that Gov. Christine Gregoire and our Legislature would do this to the people of Washington after we voted strongly to keep tabs at $30.

Legislators completely disregarded our votes and our voices to do what they wanted. I have spoken with many people in the last two weeks about this as far away as Spokane and the majority are upset and say this is not what they voted for.

Gerald Vincent

Gerald, while I applaud your engagement in the civic process, but I also suggest you take a little road trip and think about the condition of the roads in Washington State.

Case in point, take a look at Snoqualmie Pass. The condition of the pavement is atrocious up there. The right lane has a significant pair of ruts chewed into it from the years of chain and studs ripping at the concrete. The ride is terrible in most of the other lanes too, as the studs don't do much damage to the very hard aggregate, but they do a terrific job of tearing out the concrete and smoothing out the surface. It's truly as bad a driving 70mph on a cobblestone street.

Here's a litmus test. I wonder what Mr. Vincent would have to say about highway tolls. If you use it, you pay for it. I ride about 25 miles on the freeway everyday. I would have not problems paying for the total mileage I ride on the freeway. Indeed, the only truly fair method of assessing taxation for roads is to base it upon use.

Another point for Mr. Vincent. Take a look at your bill. You've probably forgotten that the state isn't the only organization that has line items on your vehicle tabs. The $30 tab fee compaign did not apply to cities and only partially to counties. Remember, I-695 WAS overturned in the courts, after all. And I might add, that it was overturned because Mr. Eyman filed it improperly. Unsurprising really, as his intention was more as a marketing tool than a legislative tool.

Stupid Weatherman

I was excited this morning. It's my first real day back at work, and I'm charged up and ready to go. Bubba's been sitting on the Battery Tender for two weeks, so he's ready to go too!

I look at Weather Underground and they're reported 37F, while a tad colder than the 42F they forecasted, I'm confident since there doesn't appear to be any of the forecasted rain either.

I open the garage door up, and it feels a bit chilly. I put that out of mind and I carry the garbage can out the curb and darn near slip on a completely, solid to the bottom, iced over puddle. What the heck? I storm back into the garage, grab the large thermometer that's sitting on the wall and haul it outside. It's 27 damn degrees outside!

Apparently not only did the weatherman pooch the forecast, but there was no cloud cover so all the cold air came down out of the hills again. Just in time for me to go back to work. I got rained on nearly every single day of my two enforced weeks of time off, and now we're back to this crap again. Argh!

Thank you for listening.

Lock 'Em Up and Throw Away the Key?

We've read about this dude before. I covered this jackass's DUI incident last August. Well, he's in court now, and he's plead not guilty.

Here's a refresher from the Tacoma News-Tribune.

Court documents state Kurle was intoxicated and caused the accident on Highway 161 near 171st Street East when he didn’t stop for a motorcycle, a car and a truck that had stopped in front of him. His blood-alcohol level after the accident was 0.17 percent, which is more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Duh. Driving around with a .17 BAC. How stupid do you have to be to do that? If you look at the photo in the article linked above, you'll see he isn't exactly a scrawny guy. It takes a lot of beer to push a 200lb(80kg?) body to a .17% BAC.

The part that really steams me: This waste of skin has been on PAID administrative leave from his new employer since this "assault" (I refuse to call it an accident). He hadn't even started work yet with the Bethel-Kapowsin School District, and this lowlife is getting his salary paid after damn near killing a motorcyclist and driving around so damn blitzed that he couldn't see a backside of an SUV.

Hell, forget jail time. Just strap him to the front of a UPS truck for 8 hours a day for a few weeks. He'll get a whole new understanding of how damn dangerous people like him are.

{Edit September 2008: Good Old Boy Network saved this bastard. Got a suspended sentence and had to promise he wouldn't drink for 3 years. Pretty damn light sentencing for ruining somebody's life through sheer negligent irresponsibility.}

Odd Cruiser Accessories

I grew up in the Midwest, and in no small part that's probably why I get the whole Harley thing. That being said, the whole cruiser thing really isn't my cup of tea, as far as I know. Maybe I've gotten different, hmm, let's make that plain and just say I've gotten older and slightly wider too.

I couldn't imagine riding a cruiser around here, but there's roads that it would be delightful to cruise upon. Roads like Jackson Highway that really require a relaxed pace and a different state of mind.

Being a bit of an oddball in cycle-dom, I probably wouldn't be following the standard fare of leather and chrome, and I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up a bit like the guy I saw yesterday going out for a cruise with his old lady.

I was in Issaquah with the wife buying some baby toys from Craigslist(.com) and I was riding shotgun. No surprise there, as I hate her car. What I did espy, I rather ignored at first (hence my lack of precise model recognition) but as it rolled past us going the other way caused me to perk up and remark on it to my wife.

The rider was on a silver Honda VTX-something or other (iirc) that was rigged as a bagger with a windshield and nice swept-style leather saddlebags. Nothing really, until I saw the Honda badges removed and the Confederate Stars & Bars painted on the side. It was rather tastefully done, but I wasn't at all prepared for the big, matte black, and terribly large Givi topbag mounted behind the passenger.

I'm thinking, WTF. This dude obviously spent a serious pile of cash on this bike. He obviously spend a pile of money on those tiny rigid-mount swept saddlebags with the tassels and the chrome-trimmed windscreen. Why the hell would you ruin the look of the whole thing by putting a matte-black Givi E460 on that otherwise lovely bike? Like I said, I don't DO Harleys personally, but I get the style. This dude, most obviously, does not.